Monday, March 25, 2013

Review: We Choose Virtues

When I started doing reviews for Mosaic Reviews, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Then, when the first assignment came out, it was a blog planner. Instantly, I relegated myself to being a failure. You see as I've mentioned before (and I'm sure I'll mention again) I'm what I like to call a simple organizer or perhaps you could also call it organized chaos, but if you're a type A personality you'd probably just grab a paper bag hyperventilate and leave my house as fast as you could. Despite my condition...and my lack of confidence in completing that review, I managed to succeed and a month later, I'm still putting that planner to use! It worked! No more writing everyday and then going five months without touching it! There is order to my blog now and I love that. So when I got the second assignment, I had a little more faith in myself.

When the We Choose Virtues (WCV) package arrived, I was very excited to see what was in store. I can honestly say, that I don't think any other product I review in the future will affect me personally the way this one did. WCV is a character program designed to help you instill biblical/moral virtues into your children with catch phrases and colorful artwork. Not only did it begin to expose the areas I'd failed in teaching my children, but the areas within my own life that needed attending to.

We received the Virtue flash cards ($14.99) and access to a few of the downloads (prices vary from $3 to $9.99) on the WCV site. With appealing catchphrases and colorful characters adorning the cards, they easily captured my children's attention. They are high quality cardstock and seem very durable, however with my sweet Asher nothing is safe, so we laminated them so that they will last until Canaan gets older.

As we dove in, we decided to each chose a virtue to pursue improving each week, focusing on getting control of that area before moving on to the next. We made a poster with each family member's name and slot to place their virtue for the week. While we initially set out to do a virtue a week, we found sometimes we needed a virtue for two weeks or longer. As the company states, the key in establishing those virtues as part of your character is to practice using them daily. In our attempt to do so, we found ourselves examining every thing from cartoon characters to heroines in a story, asking "Are they being obedient/content/kind/etc.?"

Not only did we have the flash cards, but we were given access to coloring pages to help reinforce the idea. The coloring pages were useless with my 3-year old son, who could care less about being crafty and creative, yet they were invaluable with my 7-year old daughter, who is a self-proclaimed artist. So this particular resource in the WCV kit is one I would definitely leave up to a parent's discretion.

The other products that were made available for me to use were the Butterfly Award, the Memory Verses, and a Bible Heroes and Truths sheet. All three are great tools in reinforcing the virtues. First, the Memory Verses and Bible Heroes and Truths (one my favorite part of the curriculum) help establish a biblical basis for each virtue that you are concentrating on (verses are also located on the back of the flash cards as well) and give life to it through a character in the Bible that demonstrated this virtue (I didn't always agree with the one chosen and picked my own). Kid's love being rewarded for their endeavors and that's exactly what the Butterfly Award does. It is a simple way of reinforcing a child's accomplishment as they transform their character.

I can say without a doubt, using WCV has been an eye-opening experience for us as a family. We are each digging deep to examine our character issues and setting out to improve them! However, I would recommend using the teacher or parent cards as opposed to just the flash card that I received. They have more instructions on them and would be much easier to implement into your homeschool, especially if you are not up for creating your own ways to make this part of your everyday curriculum. There is even a Homeschool Kit available for $98.99! This could definitely be used as a stand alone Bible curriculum with several age groups or even in a church setting (it's $199 for the Kids Church Kit). If you are a public school teacher, they also offer a secular set that would work in a classroom setting. If you decide to buy, just for being one of my awesome readers you can use the code VIRTUE15 to get 15% off your order FOREVER (yay)! Or if you purchase a homeschool kit, you can use HOME20 through the month of April! Enjoy!

(If you're interested in reading other reviews on this product go here.)

3 comments:

Great review. I wish I had a machine to laminate mines as well. Maybe I'll have to go to the store and get it done. I agree this has been great for my family and I plan to try to get more parts and others sets for gifts for my nephew.

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If you know me, then you know I LOVE COFFEE! I look forward to it first thing everyday, but there's actually something I look forward to even more, my time with Jesus. In those moments, it's just me and Him. As I have my coffee & study my Bible, I often hear from Him. Therefore, Java with Jesus seemed perfect! I hope to convey the marvelous ways my Savior speaks to me. So please share what He's done and is doing for you because you may be the mouthpiece He needs to speak wisdom to my soul!

I'm a small town girl, whose big city dreams propelled me to leave my hometown of Coeburn, Virginia in pursuit of a career in television news. After five years in the newsroom, the humdrum of needing bad things to happen to have an exciting day at work led me to expand my horizons. It was then that I made the move to a more creative position and became a producer for The 700 Club. After just two years there, I stepped down as God called my husband, Earl, and I back to his hometown of Knoxville, TN. In seeking God's will for us, we were led to his first pastorate at Forest Grove Free Will Baptist Church in South Knoxville.

I traded the lights, camera and action of telling other people's stories for being a stay at home/homeschooling mom writing my own story with the three adorable blessings God has given me so far. Since writing has always been a job, I'm excited to see where God takes me as I return to it as a hobby. To see some of the amazing ways God has worked in my life, be sure to read our love story. It's the whole reason I started blogging to begin with. Thanks for stopping and sharing in on my journey to serve the Creator of all.